A Prayer For Owen Meany

In Chapter eight, The Finger, we start to explore how Mary Magdalene is a metaphor of Tabitha Wheelright. On page 450 in "A Prayer For Owen Meany", in the first paragraph, it says "Mary Magdalene watched over us; we could feel her silent encouragement". Another thought was that she could relate to Hester, but when Owen re-creates the statue of Mary Magdalene, she is now granite,(which is related to death, and Hester is not dead) just like Tabitha's tombstone. He makes her look like she is ascending from the grave, which Owen says is the definition of a Saint; an emblem of immortality. Mary Magdalene also symbolizes Tabitha because the statue of Mary Magdalene after Owen decapitates her and cuts off her arms, portrays the dress dummy, he put Tabitha on the stage at the school. The statue was tall, and appeared to be watching over them.
In Chapter eight, I got the feeling that John Wheelright was transforming into a Christ figure. Christ was a carpenter, and John begins to work in Uncle Alfred's lumber business. But once Owen comes back, he wants to work at the granite quarry. Owen doesn't seem like he's happy that John wants to be with him at the quarry, that's why he prolongs his job in the shop, taking the orders of tombstone because he doesn't think that job is fit for John.
When they were children, Owen would tie a rope onto him so when he went swimming in the lake he would be able to come back up easily, but one time the rope came back up by itself. No one jumped in to see if Owen Meany was okay, they didn't even call for help, they just stood watching and the still, silent lake. When Owen Meany finally surfaced, he was angry that no one tried to save him. I'M ALREADY DEAD! said Owen Meany. On page 491 at the very bottom Mr Fish explains to Owen that cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once. Why is death plural, you only die once..? Owen said he had already died when they were younger, when he is a grown man, he sees how he is going to die. This pertains to Owen because he "died". They never really happened but he has either felt near death, or has seen it.
Owen is always telling John that he wants to go "some place warm". I didn't quite understand what he was saying or hinting to John. At the end of Chapter eight, I realize that some place warm for Owen is Heaven. In his dream he saves the Vietnamese children, he is in the arms of a nun, he can see all this because he said he "just leaves", but his body is still there.
Not only does sex play a big role in John's character, but there is a lot of geographic/metaphoric language in "A Prayer For Owen Meany". There are a lot of symbols and people being replaced by an object, or mainly, a religion.